St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-03-09

the greatest American divine, whose husband
lay dying. If / could not do that would
quit my profession and move out of town.
DR.. Dana was born in Brooklyn and
lived there for many years, and has known
Mr.. Beecher since, as boy, he was acchs-
toned TO 90 to call ON New Years day,
when Mr. Beecher kept open house and
was as delighted to see the boys as his older
acquaintances. The friendship has been
maintained ever since, and when Mr..
Beecher was last in st. Paul DR.. Dana in
troduced him to his audience. When asked
last evening what were the points of Mr..
Beechers theology to which the Chicago
ministers objected, he talked in very i'll
tereSting manner concerning the great
preacher. He said:
1t was general drawing away from ortho-
doXy toward UniversalSm. He believed in
really what is a modified creed of the Angli-
can church, and was a restorationIst. He
believed that love would conquer all things.
These are the views OF DR.. Tuttle, of Mime
apois, UniverSalist, who holds that there is
not hopeless punishment, but that punish
ment is remedial. Mr.. Beecher believed in love-
and no man dwelt so much on the fatherhood
of God or on the ultimate triumph Of love.
1t IS the same creed held by Kingsley, by
Canon Farrar, and substantially that of Dean
Stanley. 1t is the same as that held by Tom
Hughes, Frederick Maurice and that class of
thinkers who taught ultimate restoration.
MIR. Beecher boldly asserted that he never
WOULD PREACH HE'LL FIRE,
that ne was brought up under it, that his
father preached it before him, but that he
had got over it. So it was that at the close of
the war he was the first man to advocate uni
versal amnesty to the conquered South. He
said that the government was victori-
Gus and could not afford any
hir,r oil nj ol
people, including jeff Davis. 1t was a remark
able trait of Beechers character III at he was
fearless enough to take the unpopular side.
When he was decried for his universal am
nesty views, of course his friends brought I'D
his record in England, where no man did
more to aid the North. He has been much
criticised in respect to his treatment of
amuSements. You remember seven or eight
years ago what sensation it created when
he was seen in a box at one of Booths per-
formitnces. He said he had made a mistake
in relation toS amusements. and he went to
see all the leading actors. Undoubtedly
Beecher was the greatest pulpit orator
of America. He did more toward
coloring thought, and made theology in spite
of the cries against him. / think he was in
consistent. All great men are Inconsistent;
it seems to be peculiar mark of genius. 1t
takes a small man TO always keep on in the
same rut He had the most magnificent
church in the world, and it has stuck to hinP
nobly. Plymouth church said: ''Our minister
shall think as he pleases, shall preach as he
believes, and be entirely untrammeled. {"
Churches hire ministers to preach creeds but
Beecher would not do that. The last time I
heard him was last June, when East on my
vacation. 1t was Sunday night and he was very
tired. Invent up to speak to him afterwards
and he said, with his accustomed kindness ::
II saw you in the audience but not until TOO
late, or l should have had you up here, for 1
was too tired to preach.